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Researchers tell Senate Finance Committee that legalized online sports betting is linked to measurable declines in household financial health
Summary
Three academic presentations to the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee summarized large datasets showing small-average but meaningful increases in bankruptcies, delinquencies and reduced credit access after states legalized sports betting — with larger effects where mobile/online wagering is permitted.
Researchers told the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee that legalizing sports betting — and especially online, mobile wagering — is associated with measurable declines in household financial health.
In testimony to the Senate Finance Committee, Dr. Brett Hollenbeck, a researcher presenting work using the University of California Consumer Credit Panel, said his team followed roughly 4 million people from 2016–2023 and found a small but statistically significant decline in average credit scores, increases in use of debt-consolidation loans and an elevated bankruptcy rate in states that legalized sports betting. "By the end of about three years after sports betting becomes legal, there's a significant decrease in the average credit score," Hollenbeck said, and he added the credit-score effect is roughly three times larger in states allowing online betting.
The nut graph: the witnesses emphasized that the average effects are measured across entire state populations — not only among…
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